Untitled

Daten.d.

MediumCeramic

Dimensions10 3/4 × 10 3/4 × 4 in. (27.3 × 27.3 × 10.2 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineGift of J. L. Hudson Gallery, 1974

Object numberUAC112

DescriptionUntitled is a fairly small piece, about one foot tall and one foot wide. The white glazed sculpture sits on what looks like a background made up of an off-white, almost cream-colored tile. This tile is framed by a thin white frame that matches the color of the ceramic sculpture almost exactly, and rests at the same height as the tile. The best way to describe the ceramic sculpture itself is this: two round, golf ball-like shapes nestled partly underneath thinly draped ceramic, as if someone has just lovingly tucked them into bed. Being quite abstract in its design, this charming work of art garners a unique response for each person who tries to interpret it. When asked what this sculpture reminded them of, one person said that they saw some sort frog that got squished. Another person said that they saw ice cream melting, and yet another said that they saw a slug. One person thought that there was some sort of anatomical undertone. For me, I saw eggs when I first looked at this piece, which is seemingly able to unearth deep, unconscious thoughts from the viewer. This piece is also very corporeal, and that there is almost a flesh-like quality to the round lumps and flattened pieces of ceramic, which have this sort of jagged, naturalistic quality to them at their edges.

There may be something to the egg theory, as Artist Ted Striewski was recognized for his egg-centric works of art, so much so that he was known as “The Egg Man.” This period of egg-centric focus began when he started to experiment with creating two-dimensional landscapes out of epoxy resins and his daughter said that one of the clouds looked like an egg. Since this discovery, he has completed over 100 works detailing eggs in some way, most of them sculptures. There is another Striewski sculpture in the collections at Wayne State that is also included as one of his many egg themed works. This 1972 sculpture, Chicken Egg Chart, 1 is much more overt with its egg theme, being sculpted in the shape of a egg, with a sort of yolk in the center made up of a red image of a chicken hatching an egg, with yellow paint swirling around it. It also features smaller, yellow egg shapes around half the perimeter of the sculpture, almost mimicking a clock, as they bear the numbers one through twelve. On the opposite side there are strange protruding nubs in the shape of eggs with numbers one through twelve again interspersed between the protrusions. After this egg period, he moved on to photographs and tintypes, as well as creating slate coffee tables with Styrofoam and clay.2 In 1980, after retiring from teaching drawing and sculpture classes at Oakland Community College for 23 years, 3 Striewski began the next phase of his artistic career, which was creating and selling jewelry. His pins, bracelets, rings, and belt buckles were made of brass and copper. These materials were combined in such a way as to retain an organic shape, and to keep the copper and brass components separate yet in harmony with each other.4

Striewski’s works have been displayed at Shelly Ross’s Middle Earth Gallery, director Bill Leonard’s J.L. Hudson Gallery, have been featured in many private collections, and have won both regional and national awards. In a quote from an interview done in 1975 for the Farmington Observer and Eccentric Newspaper, Striewski has said that viewer response is one of the most rewarding parts of creating these works, and the laughter and enjoyment on people’s faces when they see his rather whimsical sculptures for the first time when viewing, “The absurdity of the whole thing.” 5

written by Kayla Plenda

1. Clove Ellis, “Becoming: Illuminating Experiences,” Wayne State University, artcollection.wayne.edu
2. Corrinne Abbot, “He Comes out of his Shell,” Farmington Observer & Eccentric, Feb. 27, 1975
3.Janice Tigar-Kramer, “Designing Duo: Love of Art Spurred a deeper Kind of Love,” Farmington Observer, Nov. 1, 1990
4.Corrine Abbot, “Incrporating Sculptural forms into Jewelry,” Farmington Observer, July 3, 1980
5. Corrine Abbot, “He Comes out of his Shell”